


the revenant

by pxrsephoneofeden



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Clones, F/F, F/M, Female Hange Zoë, Flashbacks, Hange Zoë & Levi Are Best Friends, Hange Zoë Ships It, Hange Zoë's Experiments, Major Original Character(s), Marriage, Medical Experimentation, Memory Loss, Multi, Original Character Death(s), Other, Pining Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Resurrection, Titans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:55:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27782593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pxrsephoneofeden/pseuds/pxrsephoneofeden
Summary: Dr. Virginia Vanderbilt-Ackerman pioneered the creation of the world’s first synthetic, skin healing stitches, which revolutionized military medical care and the survival rate of the survey very corps soldiers, her side gig, on the other hand, was being wife to humanities strongest soldier, Levi Ackerman. Dr. Ackerman died during a freak and unpredictable hurricane, leaving her husband and her fellow peers devastated and confused by her missing body.All hope on solving the mystery of Virginia’s death fades away until the survey corps gains a new transfer cadet with a concerningly unreliable memory, that looks scarily identical to the respected scientist and field nurse herself.
Relationships: Erwin Smith & Original Character(s), Hange Zoë/Original Character(s), Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	the revenant

_ “ Rivaille, please. It’s been hours and I can see you crumble with every-“ _

_ “Shut up Hanji, it has to be here she never leaves without it-She wouldn’t leave me without-“ _

_ “Levi for god’s sake she’s dead!” _

_ Hanji Zoe threw her arms up in exasperation as the newly appointed survey corps captain slid his hands under pile after pile of ash and crumbled housing material. Scatters of blood and dismantled furniture reeked a mournful scent of disarray. She took a step forward and stopped dead in her tracks as the stone man before her shattered to the ground in hard sobs.  _

_ He hadn’t cried in so long and never once in front of her. Gripping the dirt and unidentifiable mess before him in his fists until it poured out the sides, his body shook in anger. Hanji dropped beside him and gently patted his right shoulder as he took in a hefty breath and let out an ungodly scream of hellish rage. _

_ “If you’re gonna take anyone, take the man who’s only got his body, take the man who doesn’t have anyone but a blade, give the woman with the heart of steel and the mind of a miracle worker a fair shot!”  _

_ He darted upwards at once knocking Hanji back onto the ground. Burning tears raced down his cheeks, and his companion could see in his hand the photo he was crinkling to absolute wreckage might be the last time capsule saved. _

_ “I took that picture, Rivaille, don’t you fucking ruin it.”  _

_ He sharply inhaled and turned around to see her dissatisfaction. He released his grip on the photo and held it up to look at it, carefully making attempts to smooth out the now permanent creases and damage. _

_ “We shouldn’t even be here, the squad needs us, Hanji.” _

_ “You’re the one that knocked a cadets tooth out for a notebook and an engagement ring. Ginny wouldn’t-“ _

_ “Don’t you ever call her that again.” _

_ - _

Her hair felt disgustingly heavy piled in a top knot at the crown of her head. Her new squad leader insisted the manor the former team ‘104’ would be residing at was the cleanest any building could be, whether it was humanly possible or not. 

The cleaner wreaked an alcoholic burn mixed with what she assumed what meant to be synthetic citrus. Sasha took the liberty of stripping the sheets and taking them out to hand wash per Levi’s strict policy of disinfecting. Holding her now stormy gray rag in one hand she maneuvered her other to release her thick curls from their prison atop her head. Tugging on the tangled knot the scarf he used to tie it up with, she barely heard the footsteps approaching from behind her.

“I believe, Cadet, I remember telling every resident of this castle with long hair to keep it back so as to ensure nobody’s DNA is found just lying around for someone to accidentally touch!” 

“Sorry, Sir, I was getting hot-“ She whipped her figure around to face the intimidating captain, his iron eyes raking up and down her body, she watched as his breath hitched at the sight of her.

“Sir?”

He swallowed thickly, and began backstepping out of the room. Practically darting from the room, as he was almost out of earshot he yelled back at her.

“You follow the same rules everyone else has to, brat! And re-wipe down that dresser- um- It’s subpar at best.”

She let out the breath she was holding tight in her lungs throughout the entire encounter. The captain had always given her a very scary aura, even if they’d never had a one on one encounter till that moment. That was just plain strange however. 

It was almost as if she had scared him just by turning around to reveal her face.

Sasha came plowing into the room with warm sheets that smelled faintly of the same dank citrus cleaner Levi must be so fond of. She gnawed at the edge of her lip as her roommate began to spread the white linens on their small beds.

“Are you gonna stand there and chomp on your own mouth or are you gonna help blondie?” She snapped from her trance as Sasha teased her.

“Have you met the Captain yet?”

“Not directly but I just witnessed him scare the hell outta Connie for taking a piss outside. Dude’s gotta run 50 laps morning and night for the next month.”

“I think either he’s extremely awkward around girls or i’m the most unattractive woman he’s ever seen.”

“Why’s that?”

After taking the remainder of the time spent folding the sheets to explain her unpredicted encounter, Sasha merely laughed and joked that he must’ve gotten a hard on so powerful upon looking at her face mole he had to step away.

“Oh shut it potato girl!”

Imogen threw her pillow at Sasha and moved her hand up self-consciously over the mole starkly placed right below her eye on her left cheekbone.

“Hey, maybe you can use his mole fetish against him, score us some extra bread.”

“If you get us punishment for stealing food I can and will knock you the fuck out.”

Sasha smirked mischievously at her, walking towards her carefully and tilting her head to look out the perfectly scrubbed windows of their lodging.

“There’s garlic bread leftover from dinner, Yeager and Connie are still running and the cap’ is probably watching them like a hawk, we can steal a little portion and be back before room inspection round two?”

“You're crazy.” Imogen huffed out a laugh and ran her fingers through her tresses of shining hair. 

“And I can hear your stomach growling from here.”

“If we get caught I’m throwing you under the bus, potato girl.” She shoved her hand out in front of her, Sasha accepted immediately and firmly shook it before the pair walked in synchronization out of the room, tiptoeing their way down the stairs.

-

Levi busted into Hanji’s private lab, a bead of sweat resting placidly right under his hairline, he sucked his front tooth and slammed the door shut behind him. The scientist yelped and jolted o ur of her seat, papers flying everywhere. 

“Four-eyes I need you to do me a quick favor!”

Hanji rubbed her eyes, dark bags had already begun forming, as she’d been dozing over some experimental titan labs as Levi ran into her quarters unannounced.

“Fucking hell, Rivaille! What do you need at this time of night! The only ones still awake are cadets re-cleaning because you bitched?”

“Go upstairs to the potato girl’s quarters and look at her roommate. Please!”

“The fact you said please is horrifying me, why do I need to-“ She stopped mid sentence as the doorknob began turning again.

Erwin emerged from behind Levi, his face white and he swallowed thickly.

“Am I having a panic attack or a stroke, someone seriously tell me, I think I’m hallucinating.” He spoke quietly, Levi’s eyes widened.

Hanji scoffed and threw her arms up.

“The both of you need some sleep. Or a shot of something real strong, either way, you're freaking me out, you're asking me for something politely-“ She pointed accusingly at Levi and then whipped her head over to Erwin, who ran his tongue across his teeth in deep concentrated thought. “-and you look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“It’s actually ironic you say that Zoe I-“

Before Hanji could interrupt Erwin, Levi paced away to his quarters just down the hallway and slammed the door shut. Hanji furrowed her brows as they heard every single lock he’d placed on his doors behind meticulously fiddled with to keep his door shut beyond any measure of intrusion.

“I’m guessing he’s already seen her too.” Erwin dropped his head and shook it in exasperation. Hanji angrily snapped at their display of panic.

“Are you talking about what shorty is talking about?”

Erwin rolled his eyes and moved backwards to gently push the door to the scientist’s private lab shut tight behind them.

“Take out the Cadet flies and find me the name, ‘Imogen Harvard’ , Quickly.”

Hanji sighed and bent down to pick up an accordion folder labeled haphazardly with different names and dates. She flipped until she got to the file she needed. Her hand instinctively fled to her mouth as her eyes became saucers on her face.

The stack of headshots showing the rosy cheeked, blonde cadet flew to the ground, joining the papers and scribbled notes Levi had scared out of her hands minutes prior, Hanji swallowed thickly and began picking them up cautiously, as if she’d ruin them if she moved too quickly returning them to their folder.

She gulped once more before standing up, straight as a board and facing Erwin.

“That’s not a Cadet, that’s Dr. Virginia Ackerman from 17 years ago.”

-

_ “Rivaille! My love, please! Come here!” Virginia giggled, drunkenly, and looked out of frame of the shaky lens of the video camera held by a much younger, and equally drunk Erwin. He quickly flipped it over to his own face and began to beg Levi to rejoin their excursion in the soldier quarters. _

_ “Ginny you’re cut off, no more!” A fresh faced, shorter haired Hanji Zoe mumbled into the future award winning biomedical research leader’s direction. Virginia tugged at the loose braid that held her frizzy mane of platinum hair and made a pouting face at Levi from across the room.  _

_ Levi rewound the videotape over and over again, sighing and fighting back tears as his then wife begged him to come back to her, he wished, as stupid as it sounded out loud, that he could punch his younger, cadet self for even bargaining at another second in her presence. _

_ When he finally let the rest of the tape play, he felt the strengthening urge to call Hanji to come and remove it from his vicinity. _

_ His younger self walked slowly back over to his intoxicated lover, her hair now free from its plaited confinement, falling free in wavy strands along her face and down to her hip bones. He chuckled as she wrapped her arms around his neck once he bent down to be level with her. He winked into the camera and hoisted the inconsolable girl up into his arms, her legs instinctively enclasping around his waist. _

_ Levi rolled his eyes as he watched the younger Erwin whistle at them as he carried her drunk, dead weight to her own bed. The last few seconds of the tape showed Hanji chugging the remains of whatever liquor they’d stolen from their captain and flipping off the camera. _

_ He felt his lips curl into a warm smile once he noticed Virginia’s nurse training uniform. She’d always wanted to help people, he remembered how excited she seemed the first time she got to do stitches all by herself after a bad battle that left many injured. _

_ She was the youngest field-nurse of her time and the most skilled with the needle. It almost seems like a dream when he pictures the first time she showed him her sketches for her revolutionary invention that neither one of them knew would change the way citizens and soldiers alike were healed. _

_ Virginia was his absolute everything, she was his number one, even before he accepted it himself. Erwin noticed it first, back during his cadet training days when Erwin was a mere Sergeant overseeing the recruits and Levi was at the top of his group in every aspect. He began visiting the medical tent more and more for ‘headache’ medication, and ended up staying longer than his welcome talking to the eclectic trainee nurse. _

_ He popped another tape into the VCR and when he watched the first few seconds, the realization of it’s contents shoved those trapped tears out of his eyes and down his stern face. _

_ Hanji, Erwin, and Levi were all adorned in their survey corps garb, harnesses, badges and all and Hanji was clapping maniacally as Levi and Virginia spoke quickly and directly to a courthouse official. Virginia had on a bell sleeved white mini dress and had decorated her hair with flowers they’d probably stolen from a merchant on the way to the capital courthouse. _

_ Erwin, and a number of unrecognizable vets from their original squad cheered as the pair kissed and Levi once again scooped Virginia up into his arms and ran out of the courthouse with her. The video cut to a cheap looking diner where the newlyweds sat in the center of a large, soldier filled table chowing down on greasy food. _

_ “Ginny, tell me!” Levi forgot how drunk Hanji was at their ‘wedding’ and cringed as Virginia struggled not to laugh at her friend’s humorous attempt at reconciliation. _

_ “Ginny!” _

_ “Hanji i’m right here honey, what do you need?” She reached her hand over the table and Hanji snatched it into hers, holding it and speaking into it like it were Virginia’s eyes. _

_ “Why did you marry Rivaille? Why not me! We could’ve been such a good-“ She belched into her sleeve and Virginia busted out laughing as Levi’s watched his younger self look at Hanji in disgust. _

_ He didn’t even hear Erwin walk into his capital based apartment, only noticing him when he cleared his throat. _

_ “What the hell man! This is an invasion of my privacy! Get the fuck-“ _

_ “Levi it’s time for the trial!” _

_ “Trial? Oh yeah, the titan kid.” _

_ “You have to stop this.” Erwin pointed to the TV and Levi pouted, storming towards the door and pushing past Erwin. _

_ “You can tell me how to grieve when someone takes your life’s purpose from you. Now where’s my blazer?” _

_ - _

“Yeah you're definitely just hideous, Commander Erwin didn’t even yell at us, he just looked at you and went so pale!” Imogen slapped Sasha hard on the back, causing her to drop the half eaten chunk of putrid garlic bread onto the carpet.

“Great, Imogen, now Levi’s gonna make up clean carpets for months when he sees the grease stain.”

Imogen laughed at her new friend’s karma and only stopped as she heard footsteps approaching rapidly behind her. She swallowed thickly as the eccentric women known as Hanji Zoe paced towards her, a cold and demanding aura entrapping her presence.

“Cadet Harvard, I need to speak with you immediately.”

“I’m so sorry Ma’am, honestly it was Sasha’s idea to take it, I-“

“Save it. Take all the goddamn bread you please I need to see you, now.”

~

Imogen picked aimlessly at her cuticles, ripping them to shreds and she sat petrified in Hanji’s office turned laboratory. Hanji studied her speechless, squinting her eyes and looking back and forth between Imogen’s features and a picture out of view from the scared cadet.

“Cadet, I’ve read your file over a couple times now and it seems you had an accident before being transferred over to this squad force?”

Imogen attempted to swallow her anxiety, but her throat was starchy and dry.

“Yes, Ma’am. I woke up in the quarters of the training sector one morning without any recollection of anything more than my arrival to the military recruitment center.”

Hanji clicked her tongue and nodded at her.

“Yes, I know that much but I have a few questions. Were you checked out by a capital doctor?”

“A field nurse-“

“I didn’t ask about a field nurse, Imogen, did a licensed, military, practitioner give you an examination?”

Imogen puffed out an aggravated breath.

“No, I asked them and they told me I couldn’t have a doctor from the capital military center.”

Hanji’s eyes widened and she stood up, getting mere centimeters from Imogen’s face and reaching out to circle her finger around her beauty mark on her cheekbone. The cadet flinched and Hanji shot her other hand back to hold her head in place as she dragged her finger along every defining feature of the girl’s face.

“You were wronged, Miss Imogen. Head injuries and serious brain trauma requires you to be seen by a capital specialist to ensure your health as the military has been dwindling in our statistics and survival rates ever since the Trost attacks. I need you to go to bed and speak nothing of this to anyone, but if anyone, especially an officer, asks you who you are, or asks you about a woman you may know, you’ve never heard the name ‘Virginia Vanderbilt’ got it?” Hanji pleaded to her as her hands cupped her face to look up at her, directly into her deep ember eyes.

Imogen nodded furiously and scurried off to her room. Hanji plopped down into her chair and rubbed her temples. She silently prayed her crazed theory she’d cooked up once she read the file wasn’t true


End file.
